Chairs and other seats come in a variety of styles depending upon their intended use. A style of chair which is particularly popular is that which includes an upholstered sitting surface or seat, an upholstered back rest connected to the seat, and a plurality of legs, typically four, connected to the underside of the seat. Such chairs are often found in restaurants, diners, banquet halls, hotels and other such establishments.
Since these chairs are frequently used in decorated surroundings, efforts have been made to increase their aesthetic appeal, including forming the chairs with decorative shapes, colors, upholstering and other decorative features. Other efforts have been made to hide the unsightly underside of the seats which includes screws connecting the legs and back rest to the seat, staples holding the fabric covering for the seat in place, manufacturer labels and tags and the like. A conventional approach for covering these eyesores has been to staple or tack a simple cardboard panel to the underside of the seat along its periphery. Although this cardboard panel may be visible when the chair is viewed in elevation from a moderate distance, it nonetheless presents a neater and less objectionable appearance than would be the case if it were not used.
Over the years, several drawbacks to the use of these cardboard panels have been realized. Firstly, it is a time-consuming and costly process to staple or tack the cardboard panel to the underside of the seat. In addition, the cardboard panel frequently becomes wet, such as from contacting the damp surface of an adjacent seat as the chairs are stacked for storage. As a result of repeated contact with moisture, the cardboard panel deteriorates over time, causing it to buckle, sag and/or tear, at which point it no longer serves its function of providing a neat appearance. Moreover, the cardboard panel may become damaged to the point that the screws on the underside of the seat become exposed, resulting in local fraying, tearing, rust staining and other damage to the upholstered sitting surface of an adjacent seat in a stacked arrangement of chairs. Yet another problem with these cardboard panels is that, when they must be removed to provide access to the underside of the seat, such as for tightening or replacing the chair legs or back rest, repairing the upholstery, etc., their removal and reinstallation is time consuming and difficult, often causing damage to the panels.
In view of these drawbacks, there exists a need for an improved device for covering the various connections on the underside of a chair seat. Preferably, such device will not be affected by moisture. More preferably, the device will be capable of easy attachment to and removal from the underside of conventional prior art seats with only simple modifications thereto. There is also a need for a seat to which such device may be readily connected without the need for modification.